Perception Teams With ABC Sports For Battle At The Bridges

Perception creates show open for ABC Sports' Battle At The Bridges(Click picture for larger image)

It all began with a dimpled white orb. That's the starting point for the epic show open created by design/post studio Perception (www.perceptv.com) for ABC Sports prime-time coverage of the Lincoln Financial Battle at the Bridges, a one-round, best-ball golf game between four of golf's best. Airing Monday, July 25, the event features Tiger Woods and John Daly taking on Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen, vying for a $1.7 million purse. The open, which was created in record time, playfully emphasizes the event's significance.

"This is big," admits Daniel Gonzalez, Visual Effects Director at Perception. "It's ABC Sports, it's prime-time and it's the best golfers in the world. ABC liked the speed and creative ideas we presented to them for another project so much that they asked us to do Bridges. We ended up pitching eight ideas and they went for the most ambitious one, which we saw as a clever twist on your typical sports open."

That it is. Working on production schedule of just two weeks, the Perception show open begins with the vast emptiness of space and a star, resembling a golf ball, exploding dramatically - like golf's version of the "big bang" - and quickly takes viewers on a journey through the history of the world, up to present day.

The scenes transition seamlessly through the ages. First, we see an ancient cave painting of primitive man perfecting his golf swing (apparently even then hoping not to slice or hook). Through sedimentary layers, the scene rises to one resembling ancient Rome, where we see the name "Mickelson" etched into an archway followed by an image of the great golfer himself composited into the ancient scene. As the camera pulls back, the visuals transition into 'da Vinci' world where John Daly's name and likeness are introduced.

Another seamless transition brings viewers into a three-dimensional Monet "Water Lilies" landscape featuring Goosen. Thanks to an amazing visual effect, viewers feel as if they're actually being pulled into the painting. The piece ends with the great Tiger Woods fittingly representing as the power and strength of the industrial age - complete with steam engines and pumping pistons emanating from his golf swing.

For Perception, the sequence involving the Monet painting was perhaps the most challenging of the project. To create the mind-bending effect, Perception asked professional artist Stephen J. Lasky (also Jeremy's father) to essentially deconstruct Monet's famous "Water Lilies Garden" painting layer by layer on individual sheets of acetate. The sheets were then scanned into the computer with Goosen composited into the middle of it.

"ABC wanted an open that would be eye-catching, extremely stylized, entertaining and effectively explain the premise behind the event," says Jeremy Lasky, Design Director. "It took some doing, but I believe we delivered in all of those areas. This was an extremely ambitious project for us and tested our collective artistic skills. We responded by pulling out all the stops - creating full CG animation, numerous layers of compositing and shooting live action footage. There was a lot a pressure considering the deadline and complexity of the project, but we saw this a chance to showcase just how much we're capable of. "

About PerceptionFounded in 2002 by former R/GA creatives Jeremy Lasky (Design Director); Brendan Werner (Editorial Director); and Daniel Gonzalez (Effects Director), Perception's (www.perceptv.com) mission is to create world-class commercial visual art that challenges and changes the industry's idea of what can be accomplished on desktop machines. Collectively, Perception team has worked on over 700 broadcast projects, garnering numerous top creative awards.